Jet regulator

ABSTRACT

A jet regulator is provided with a jet fractioning device designed as perforated plate with a number of flow-through holes that are located at a distance to each other. The perforated plate has at least one reinforcement rib on its flat side on the inflow side and/or outflow side to reinforce the perforated plate. On its side facing the outflow side the jet regulator has an additional perforated plate with a number of flow-through holes defined by flow guide walls. At least one distance piece is provided on at least one of the sides of the perforated plate that are facing each other and/or on an adjacent jet regulator component part. The distance piece deforms the perforated plate and the jet regulator component part as the result of a relative motion during the jet regulator installation from a non-deformed initial position into a round bodied or convexly bent application position.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to German PatentApplication No. 10 2009 010 630.8-25 filed Feb. 26, 2009, the entiredisclosure of which is herein expressly incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a jet regulator with a jet fractioning devicethat is designed as a perforated plate having a number of dischargeholes that are distant from each other.

The invention also concerns a jet regulator formed by a perforated plateon the discharge side that has a number of flow-through holes defined byflow guide walls, whereby the jet regulator is provided with at leastone jet regulator component part that is movable relative to theperforated plate during the jet regulator installation.

The jet regulator of the type mentioned above is already known fromdiverse embodiments. Such jet regulators are inserted in the drain of asanitary drain valve, in order to form a homogeneous, non-splashing andperhaps also briskly-soft stream of water. Such jet regulators generallyhave a jet fractioning device in the interior of their jet regulatorhousing dividing the inflowing stream of water into many individualjets. The jet fractioning device can be designed as functional unitssuch as jet regulation units or flow straighteners of the jet regulatorand can allow mixture of air and water. Thereby, the jet regulator isfrequently designed as perforated plate, which can be exposed to largedifferences in temperature, hot water temperatures, high water pressureon the inflow side of the jet regulator, and can thus be exposed tosignificant loads. In particular, when the jet regulator is designed asrectangular regulator or as flat jet regulator and its jet regulatorhousing has a greater longitudinal extension compared to the horizontalextension, the danger exists that the comparably thinly designedperforated plate used as jet regulator deforms under these loads to suchan extent that the jet regulator cannot fulfill the intended function,and the inflowing stream of water cannot be formed with an even jetstream.

If the jet regulator is designed as rectangular jet regulator or flatjet regulator, the jet stream generated by the jet regulator is alsofrequently influenced and the linearly exiting water jet contracts aftera short distance into a turbulent and somewhat non-round jet crosssection.

Therefore, there is the particular problem of creating a jet regulatorof the type mentioned above that distinguishes itself by an even andnon-squirting jet stream.

A solution in accordance with the invention involves including at leastone reinforcing rib on the flat inflow side and/or outflow side of aperforated plate that is used as jet fractioning device.

On the flat inflow side, the jet regulator in accordance with theinvention has in addition to or instead of the perforated plate thatserves as jet fractioning device on the flat outflow side, at least onereinforcement rib, which even in the case of a comparably thin-walled oran elongated perforated plate reinforces in such a way that it is wellable to withstand the influencing loads. As deformations of a perforatedplate that is designed in this way are not to be expected, to thatextent, functional disruptions that would otherwise have an unfavorableeffect on the jet stream can be precluded as well.

In order to be able to design these reinforcement ribs as thin-walled aspossible so that these practically do not represent a flow impediment,it is advantageous to form a grid structure of the reinforcement ribscrossing each other at crossing nodes.

Thereby, a preferred embodiment according to the invention provides thatat least the majority of the reinforcement ribs that jointly form a gridstructure define polygonal, preferably square and particularlyrhombus-shaped grid openings. In particular, such polygonal gridstructures can be designed in such a way that the water inflow into theflow-through holes of the perforated plate used as jet fractioningdevice is not noticeably impeded.

The at least one reinforcement rib practically does not represent a flowimpediment when the at least one reinforcement rib is located facingtoward or facing away from the inflowing stream of water with its smallside of the rib.

It is particularly advantageous when the jet regulator has a multi-partjet regulator housing and when the perforated plate that serves as thejet fractioning device is formed in one piece in a part of the housingthat is on the inflow side. A perforated plate that is formed into ahousing part in one piece can better withstand the loads acting upon it.

The effort connected with the design and the production of the jetregulator in accordance with the invention can be reduced considerablyif the reinforcement ribs are formed in one piece onto the flat side ofthe inflow or outflow of the perforated plate serving as jet fractioningdevice.

A particularly advantageous further development in accordance with theinvention provides that the reinforcement ribs keep the flow-throughholes free, and that the flow-through holes are preferably locatedaxially and/or centrally in a grid opening of the reinforcement ribsthat jointly form a grid structure. In this embodiment the inflowingstream of water can be captured in the comparable large grid openingsand the quantity of water captured in such can subsequently be pressedthrough the flow-through hole that is defined by the respective gridopening. In this embodiment the grid openings thus have a concentratingeffect on an amount of water respectively at one flow-through hole, andthe perforated plate serves as jet fractioning device.

An additional refinement to address the above-identified probleminvolves that at least one of the sides of the perforated plate thatface each other and/or the jet regulator component part, at least onedistance piece is provided that deforms the perforated plate by arelative motion of the perforated plate and the jet regulator componentpart during the jet regulator installation from a non-deformed initialposition into a round bodied or convexly bent application position.

A jet regulator designed according to this refinement of the inventionhas at least one distance piece arranged at least at one of the sides ofthe perforated disk that are facing each other and/or the jet regulatorcomponent part. In the application position of the jet regulator inaccordance with the invention, the distance piece works in such a wayupon the perforated disk that serves as flow straightener that it isdeformed into a round bodied or convexly bent form. While theflow-through holes that are provided in this perforated plate have alongitudinal axis that is approximately parallel to the axis in thenon-deformed initial position of the perforated plate, the perforatedplate is deformed in such a way in its application position by thedistance piece that acts upon the perforated plate that this perforatedplate has a round bodied or convexly bent application position. In thisround bodied or convexly bent application position, the flow-throughholes that are provided in the deformed circumferential edge section ofthe perforated plate are angled outward with their longitudinal axes insuch a way that the water jets exiting the flow-through holes separate,in order to only come together after a comparably long distance in to apotentially non-round overall jet. This ensures that the exiting waterjet retains the desired form even over a longer distance.

It is particularly advantageous when the at least one distance piecedeforms the perforated plate in such a way that the flow guiding wallsthat define the flow-through holes of the perforated plate toward thecircumference of the perforated plate specify diverging or splayed jetdirections of the individual jets guided by the flow-through holes.

A particularly simply designed, but still effective embodiment of theinvention provides that the perforated plate and/or the jet regulatorcomponent part have a centrally located distance piece. It is alsopossible that by means of the perforated plate and/or the jet regulatorcomponent part, several distance pieces are provided that are distantfrom each other and have different height, which specify a defined,deformed application position of the perforated plate.

In order to be able to maintain the arrangement of the potentiallyrequired functional units at the jet regulator it is advantageous, ifthe jet regulator component part is designed so that it can be used as ajet regulator housing and preferably as insertion part that is designedas perforated plate.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present inventionwill become apparent from the following detailed description of one ormore preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a jet regulator designed as a rectangular jetregulator or flat jet regulator illustrated in a longitudinal crosssection perspective,

FIG. 2 illustrates the jet regulator of FIG. 1 in a longitudinal crosssection,

FIG. 3 illustrates the jet regulator of FIGS. 1 and 2, whereby at theoutflow side of the jet regulator, a perforated plate can be recognizedthat serves as flow straightener, which—as in FIGS. 1 and 2—is also in adeformed application position,

FIG. 4 illustrates the perforated plate serving as flow straightener anddesigned as separate insertion component in its non-deformed initialposition,

FIG. 5 illustrates the perforated plate of FIG. 4 in its deformedapplication position independent of the other component parts of the jetregulator shown in FIG. 1 to 3, and

FIG. 6 illustrates the jet regulator from FIG. 1 to 3 in an extendedillustration of its component parts and components.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In FIGS. 1 to 3 and 6, a jet regulator 1 is illustrated that is insertedfrom the facing discharge side into the water discharge of a sanitarydrain valve and can be secured there using a stud screw that protrudesthrough the water drainage up to the fixation opening 3 that is providedat the circumference of the jet regulator housing 2. With the help ofthe jet regulator 1, which is designed here as ventilated jet regulator,a homogeneous, non-splashing and perhaps also briskly-soft water jet canbe formed.

In the interior of its jet regulator housing 2, jet regulator 1 isprovided with a jet fractioning device 20 on the inflow side thatdivides the inflowing stream of water into a number of individual jets.This is achieved by designing the jet fractioning device 20 asperforated plate with a number of flow-through holes 4 that are distantfrom each other. The individual streams created in at least one sectionin conically tapered flow-through holes 4 are accelerated in such a waythat on the drain side 5 of the jet fractioning device an under pressureis created as a result of which air can be sucked into jet regulatorhousing 2 from the draining facing side of the drain valve through theat least one ventilation opening 6 on the circumference.

In order to brake the now air-enriched individual jets and to mix thejets with the air that is swept along, in flow direction Pf1 at adistance, below the jet fractioning device 20, a jet regulation unit isprovided. The jet regulation unit is formed here by two insertioncomponents 7, 8, which are provided with crossing blades of bars thatare parallel to the axis forming a grid structure.

In a flow straightener on the outflow side that is designed asperforated plate 9, the braked individual jets that are well mixed withair are brought together into a homogeneous outflow jet. Thereby, theperforated plate 9 serving as flow straightener is provided with ahoneycomb structure with flow-through holes defined by flow guide walls10, which are in cross section square and in particular hexangularflow-through holes.

In the enlarged illustration of FIGS. 1 to 3, it can be seen that theperforated plate that serves as jet fractioning device 20, which, as aconsequence of the large temperature differences, the hot watertemperatures and the high water pressures can also be exposed tosignificant loads, is comparably designed with thin walls in spite ofits longitudinal extension.

So that the perforated plate 20 can withstand these significant loadsand does not deform in such a way that the jet regulator 1 can no longerensure its jet-forming function, the perforated plate 20 has reinforcingreinforcement ribs 21, 22 on its flat inflow side and on its flatoutflow side. These reinforcement ribs 21, 22 are formed in one pieceonto the flat sides of the perforated plate 20, the reinforcement ribs21, 22 cross each other at crossing nodes to form a grid structure withpolygonal, preferably square and here, in particular rhombus-shaped gridopenings. The reinforcement ribs 21, 22 are facing or are facing awayfrom the inflowing stream of water flowing in the direction of arrow Pf1with the small side of their ribs in such a way that they form as littleflow resistance as possible.

In FIGS. 1 to 3 it can be recognized that the reinforcement ribs 21provided on the flat side of the inflow side keep the flow-through holes4 free and that the flow-through holes 4 are provided approximatelyaxially or centrally in respectively a grid opening of the reinforcementribs 21. In the grid openings of the grid structure formed by thereinforcement ribs 21, a comparably large amount of fluid can thus becaptured and subsequently be pressed through the flow-through holes 4(which are smaller compared to the grid opening), which additionallyoptimizes the function of the perforated plate that serves as jetfractioning device 2.

By comparing FIGS. 1 to 3 and 6 it becomes clear that the perforatedplate 9 serving as flow straightener is movable during installation ofthe jet regulator 1 relative to the component parts 7, 8 of the jetregulator 1 that are located upstream in the direction of flow. Thereby,on the flat side that is facing the perforated plate 9 of the jetregulator component part 8, a rib or bar-shaped distance piece 12 isprovided in the longitudinal direction of the insertion component 8,approximately axially and extending over the horizontal cross section ofthe insertion component 8, which deforms the perforated plate by arelative motion of perforated plate 9 and jet regulator component part 8during the jet regulator installation from a non-deformed initialposition into a round bodied or convexly bent application position.

While the non-deformed initial position of the perforated plate 9 isillustrated for better understanding in FIG. 4, the round bodied orconvexly formed application position is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6. Asthe flow-through holes provided in perforated plate 9 in the initialposition shown in FIG. 4 have longitudinal axes approximately parallelto the axis, the perforated plate that is produced as extrusion part canbe easily removed from the extrusion tool. As the perforated plate 9 is,however, formed convex or round bodied in its application position, theflow guide walls 10 that define the flow-through holes of the perforatedplate 9 are splayed toward the perforated plate's circumference in sucha way that they specify diverging jet directions toward the outside ofthe individual jets guided in the flow-through holes. The perforatedplate 9 thus favors a splayed linear jet cross section of the exitingwater jet, which can thus retain its linear jet form over a comparablelong distance and only after a comparably long distance pulls togetherinto a perhaps also non-round jet cross section.

As is clear by comparing FIGS. 1 and 2, the jet regulator componentparts upstream of the perforated plate 9 in the direction of flow Pf1are supported against each other so that the perforated plate 9 isdeformed by distance piece 12, that the perforated plate serving as jetfractioning device 20 is reinforced by the reinforcement ribs 21, 22.

It is clear in FIGS. 1 to 6 that the jet regulator 1 is designed here asrectangular jet regulator or flat jet regulator, that has a non-roundjet exit, which has a larger longitudinal extension compared to thehorizontal extension.

The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate theinvention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of thedisclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of theinvention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention shouldbe construed to include everything within the scope of the appendedclaims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A jet regulator, comprising: a jet fractioningdevice that is a perforated plate with walls forming a number offlow-through holes that are at a distance to each other, wherein atleast some of the number of flow-through holes have a portion with acylindrical or conically tapering cross-section in a flow direction ofthe jet regulator; and a plurality of reinforcement ribs that reinforcethe perforated plate on a flat side of an upstream side and/or on adownstream side of the perforated plate, wherein the plurality ofreinforcement ribs are located facing or facing away from the inflowside with a small side of their ribs, and wherein in an area where theplurality of reinforcement ribs abut the walls forming the number offlow-through holes, the plurality of reinforcement ribs have a differentsized cross-section in the flow direction than the at least some of thenumber of flow-through holes.
 2. The jet regulator according to claim 1,wherein the reinforcement ribs that cross each other at crossing nodesto form a grid structure.
 3. The jet regulator according to claim 2,wherein at least a majority of the plurality of reinforcement ribs thatjointly form the grid structure define polygonal openings.
 4. The jetregulator according to claim 3, wherein the polygonal openings aresquare.
 5. The jet regulator according to claim 4, wherein the squarepolygonal openings are rhombus-shaped.
 6. The jet regulator according toclaim 1, further comprising: a multi-part jet regulator housing that ismolded in one piece onto a housing part on the inflow side of theperforated plate.
 7. The jet regulator according to claim 2, wherein theplurality of reinforcement ribs are molded in one piece onto the flatside on the inflow side and/or the outflow side of the perforated plate.8. The jet regulator according to claim 2, wherein the plurality ofreinforcement ribs keep the flow-through holes free and the flow-throughholes are located axially or centrally in respectively one grid openingof the reinforcement ribs that form the grid structure.
 9. The jetregulator according to claim 1, wherein the jet regulator is arectangular jet regulator, a flat jet regulator or has a non-round jetexit, which has a larger longitudinal extension compared to thehorizontal extension.
 10. A jet regulator, comprising: a perforatedplate forming a facing side on a downstream side of the jet regulator,wherein the perforated plate has flow-through holes defined by flowguide walls; at least one jet regulator component part that is movablerelative to the perforated plate during the jet regulator assembly,wherein at least one distance piece is arranged on the perforated plateor the jet regulator component part, and wherein during the assembly ofthe jet regulator the at least one distance piece deforms the perforatedplate from a non-deformed initial position into a round bodied orconvexly bent application position as a result of a relative motion ofthe perforated plate and the at least one jet regulator component part,wherein the at least one distance piece deforms the perforated plate insuch a way that the flow guide walls defining the flow-through holes ofthe perforated plate specify diverging or splayed jet directions in thedirection of the perforated plate's circumference for the individualjets guided in the flow-through holes, wherein, in a flow direction, theperforated plate is a last component of the jet regulator so that liquidexits the jet regulator in diverging or splayed directions.
 11. The jetregulator according to claim 10, wherein the at least one distance pieceof the perforated plate or the jet regulator component part is centrallylocated.
 12. The jet regulator according to claim 10, wherein the jetregulator component part is arranged so that it can be inserted into ahousing of the jet regulator.